| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Justin Bryant | ||
| Date of birth | August 24, 1966 | ||
| Place of birth | Melbourne, Florida, United States | ||
| Height | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) | ||
| Playing position | Football (Soccer) goalie | ||
| Teams managed | |||
| Elon College | |||
| ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 7 December 2006 | |||
Justin Bryant (born August 24, 1966 in Melbourne, Florida) is an American writer and former U.S. minor league soccer goalkeeper.
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Bryant grew up in Florida, and attended Radford University in Radford, Virginia. While at Radford, he played on the men's soccer team from 1984 to 1986.
Bryant elected to pursue a career as a professional soccer goalkeeper. In 1987, He moved to England and signed with Boreham Wood FC. He returned to the U.S. that same year to play for the Orlando Lions of the recently established American Soccer League. In 1989, he moved to Scotland to play for Dunfermline Athletic but was unable to obtain a work permit. In 1990 he returned to Boreham Wood FC, where he made 23 appearances for the reserve team. In 1995, he spent a single season with the Cocoa Expos in the U.S.. The Expos reached the USISL Premier League final, where they lost 3-1 to the Richmond Kickers.
In 1997, Bryant decided to give up his playing career, and moved to Elon College and completed his bachelor's degree in English. The college then hired him as the assistant coach for the women's soccer team. Based on an idea for a book he had conceived while visiting his father in South Africa, he wrote a novel, Season Of Ash, published in 2004 by ENC Press, and has continued to write, producing short fiction published in such literary journals as Thin Air, Chiron Review, The Rockhurst Review and Snowbound. His work has also been anthologized by Gorsky Press, Spotted Cow Press and Key Porter Books. He has written about soccer for Green Pitch Magazine, Red Issue, and Bookable Offense. He is a graduate of the MFA Creative Writing program at New York University, where he did his thesis with E.L. Doctorow. Bryant currently lives in Jersey City, New Jersey.